Young scores 8 late to seal victory

No. 8 West Valley beat No. 9 Anderson 50-37 at home in the first round of the Northern Section Division IV playoffs on Wednesday.

T.J. Holmes

West Valley’s Dylon Rosen goes up for a shot against Anderson defenders (from left to right) Tyler Miller, Marcus Cranan and Angelo Allegretto in Wednesday’s Northern Section Division IV playoff game in Cottonwood. Eighth-seeded West Valley won 50-37.

COTTONWOOD — West Valley High's boys basketball team prides itself on forcing the opposition to play ugly.

Add on a consistent offensive output and the Eagles can be a dangerous team in the postseason.

Eighth-seeded West Valley unleashed that defensive prowess and turned in a solid second-half shooting display to drop visiting No. 9 Anderson 50-37 in the first round of the Northern Section Division IV playoffs on Wednesday.

Anderson trailed by three late in the third until West Valley senior Eric Young ignited a 7-0 run with a baseline drive. The Cubs climbed back within five midway through the fourth, but Young took over, knocking down two treys and then two late free throws in the final minute to help the Eagles advance to the D-IV quarterfinals, where they face No. 1 Corning on Friday.

"Eric's been our big guy all year," West Valley coach James O'Brien said. "Oftentimes he gets overlooked, but he's the guy when we need a shot. We give it to him and he delivers."

Young scored the eight of West Valley's final 10 points and finished with a game-high 18. Senior Dylon Rosen added 10 points while Danny Vietti pitched in with nine points and nine rebounds for an Eagle squad that had lost 10 of its past 11 games, though, all but two were against upper-division foes.

"This was all effort," Vietti said. "The teams we've been playing we battled with all year long and it's all about effort and playing hard. If we do that we could surprise some people in the playoffs."

Young's 3-pointer gave the Eagles a four-point advantage after a back-and-forth opening period. West Valley started hitting midrange jumpers in the second with Rosen and Vietti, but Brody Jones' trey was answered by Anderson's Branden Prettyman's long-range bucket to keep it a one-possession game.

Young hustled to grab his own rebound and completed a three-point play after throwing up a prayer and the Eagles led by four at the break.

"We work our way through our offensive problems," Vietti said. "We try and play inside-out and work the ball around and find shots any way we can."

Anderson's Jason Cruickshank completed a three-point play midway through the third and Jacob Melton followed by draining a wide-open trey for a 27-24 West Valley lead. The Eagles' Dennis Furio hit a runner inside and Tyler Miller answered with a deep 2 from the corner to keep it a three-point game.

However, West Valley went to its press, which fueled the Eagle players for the remainder of the third. Young drove the baseline for a layup, Furio broke the Cubs' press with a layup and Jones nailed a 3 after Furio's offensive rebound kept the Eagle possession alive for a 36-26 lead.

"We closed it to three late in the third and had momentum but we had a lot of wasted possessions and unforced turnovers when they pressed," Anderson coach Larry Newman said. "It wasn't a high-intensity press, we just handled the ball badly."

The Cubs cut the deficit to five on freshman Kody Karpinski's 3, but Young answered with a trey on the next possession. Vietti hit Rosen cutting to the basket for a reverse layup and Young sealed the deal with his third 3 of the contest with 1:23 left.

"When you play good defense you're always in the ballgame, it's ugly but you're always in there," O'Brien said. "When our offense kicks into gear like it did tonight, we're tough to beat."

Anderson's Aaron Miller led the Cubs with 10 points while Jason Cruickshank added nine points in the loss.

West Valley moves on to face Corning, which handed the Eagles a 42-29 defeat on the regular season finale on Friday.